Keyboard for printing-telegraph systems.



J. E. WEIGHT. KEYBOARD FOR PRINTING TELEGRAPH SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22, 1913.

Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. E. WRIGHT. I KEYBOARD FOR PRINTING TELEGRAPH SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22, 1913.

1,090,366, Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

wwwmoeo J. E. WRIGHT.

KEYBOARD FOB PRINTING TELEGRAPH SYSTEMS. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22,1913.

1,090,366. Patented Mar. 17,1914.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

wi lwwsoaaz I Z gqvze ntqz i 1 I Howie 7 J. B. WRIGHT. KEYBOARD'YFORPRINTING TELEGRAPH SYSTEMS.

I APPLIUATION FILED J AN. 22, 1913. 1,090,366, Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

6 MEETS-SHEET 4.

{ii nbe ntoz m '7 2 M" 7 W I J. E. WRIGHT.

KEYBOARD FOR PRINTING TELEGRAPH SYSTEMS. APPLICATION H1121) JAN. 22,1913.

1,090,366.- I Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

J. EL KEYBOARD FOR PRINTING TELEGRAPH SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22, 1913.

Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

6 SHEETBSHEET 6.

U TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN EDWARD WRIGHT, or rrr'rsnunen, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR ro WRIGHTTELEGBAIPHIC TYPEWRITER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OFDELAWARE.

KEYBOARD FOR PRINTING-TELEGRAPH SYSTEMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1'7, 1914.

Application filed January 22, 1913. Serial No. 743,510.

a To all whom it may mm;-

Be it known that I, JOHN E. WRIGHT, a citizen of the United States,residing -at Pittsburgh, county of Allegheny, and State ofPennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Keyboards forPrinting-Telegraph Systems, of, which the following is a full, clear,and exact description.

My present invention is an improvement in keyboards for printingtelegraph systems, that is to say, apparatus comprising a bank of keys,by the successive depression of which mechanism is set in operation bywhich current impulses or series of impulses corresponding to the keysdepressed, are sent to line to eflect the operation ofa receiver, whichmay be a perforator, a printer or an indicator of any suitablecharacter. In the particular system for which this device was designed,I employ a column printing telegraph instrument in which the selectionand printing of characters, spacing, paper feed and such other functionsas are involved in the operation of that instrument, are effected bymeans of electromagnetically controlled devices, each having a specialfunction and connected up with a plurality of circilits local to theinstrument, in such manner that each particular operation, or series ofcertain operations, results from the completion of a corresponding localcircuit, or the simultaneous completion of two or more of such circuits.This receiving instrument I have made the subject of an applicationfiled by me on December 9, 1912, Ser. No. 735,682.

In order to reduce the number of line or transmission circuits to aminimum, that is a single wire, I employ in connection with such areceiver, an apparatus which is placed intermediate to the same and theline, and which contains a plurality of circuits corresponding to, anddesigned to control, those of the said receiver, and a plurality ofcircuits, as few in number as practical working conditions will permit,which are designed to be controlled by current-s transmitted over theline and by means of which that one of a number of circuit closers isselected which, when operated, completes the receiver circuit and printsthe character or effects the operation corresponding to the impulse orcombination of impulses constituting the signal transmitted over theline. This apploy in connection with such translator an apparatus fordistributing to its appropriate circuits the impulses sent over theline, and to otherwise controlits operation. This apparatus comprises asunflower or distributer ring, the segments of which are connected withthe controlled circuits of the translator, and a corresponding sunflowerinstrument at the sending end of the line, into the segments of whichimpulses, constituting or corresponding to those to be transmitted overthe line, are sent by a suitable device. The apparatus comprising thetwo sunflower rings with the means for controlling their operation,forms the subject of an app1ication for patent filed by me of even dateherewith, Serial No. 743,512

To complete the system some means must be employed in connection withthe sunflower transmitting device to properly control its operation, andto direct through its appropriate segments, the current impulses thatare to determine the operation of the receiver, and for this purpose Ihave devised the keyboard instrument upon which is based my presentapplication.

The main purpose of the device in question, is to close, by thedepression of single keys, one or more or all of the circuits leading tothe segments of the transmitting sunflower; by the same operation tostart the latter in action and by means of suitable mechanism, whichestablishes reciprocal relations between the key board and thetransmitting instrument, to control the operation of the former and tolook the keys to prevent their operation until the signal correspondingto the key depressed has been completed. The improvements thereforereside in the means for accomplishing these results, and will bedescribed by reference to the accompanying drawings: 7

Figure l is a top plan view of the complete key board instrument. Fig. 2is a plan view of those working parts which are exposed by the removalof the top plate or superstructure. Fig. 3 is a central vertical crosssection of the instrument shown in Fig.

:1. Fig. 4 is an endview of the device with the side plates removed.Fig. 5 is a View a in elevation of a detail of mechanism. Fig.

6 is a central section at right angles to the plane of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 isa detail in elevation-and part section of one of a series of circuitclosing devices. Fig. 8 is a diagram of'the circuit connections of thekey board and the instruments employed therewith at the home or sendingstation.

In the general mechanical design of the instrument I have followed thatheretofore adopted by me and which resembles that of an ordinarytypewriter, having a cast iron base 1, with a-projeoting front 2,containing and exposing through an opening in its top,

' a, bank of keys similar to those commonly employed in single casemachines, and a raised latform 3, supported by the side plates. The keylevers 4 contain notches at their rear ends to receive the knife edge ofa stationary bar 5, and rest upon a rod 6. They are normally held inraised position and against the knife edge by spiral springs 7. Themain'keys correspond to letters, numerals and other characters on thetype wheel of a receiver, 'while certain other keys are employed forspacing, for returning the type wheel carriage from any point in itsline of travel to its initial position, and at the same time feeding thepaper one line space, or for feeding the paper without returning thecarriage, and for other purposes, as ,will be more fully describedhereinafter.

Immediately beneath the series of key levers 4 is a bar 8, carried byarms secured to a rock shaft 9 and held normally up against the leversby a spiral spring 10, connected to a rigid arm projecting from saidrock shaft. Another rigid arm 11, extending from this shaft, isconnected by a wire or rod 12, see

the series of key levers, and is held in a nor- -mally elevated positionby a spiral spring 17 acting upon said shaft. This bar has a series ofprojections 18 lyingunder some of the levers, but not under others, sothat it .will be depressed by those key levers onlv which encounter theprojections thereon. When so depressed the bar draws down against theforce of a spring 20, the ends 19 of a bell crank lever with which it isconnected bya rod 21,and effects an adjustment of mechanism which willbe hereinafterdescribed, whereby a special magnet in the receiver. knownas the shift magnet will be operated. It is sufficient, for the present,to say that every key lever, with the single exception'of one which'liesover I one of the projections on bar 14, is connected by a rod 22 with apivoted bell crank le- "ver 23, Fig. 6, and when depressed draws downthe forward end of said lever against the force ofa spiral, spring 24.The other end of each bell crank lever 23 is pivotally connected with aslide bar 25 adapted to reciprocate in suitable guides in the frame ofthe instrument over a series of five rock shafts 26, and provided withone or more stops or lugs 27, in the path of which, when present, extendarms 28 rigid with the rock shafts 26. The disposition of the lugs 27 issuch that by the depression of any given key, one or more or all of therock shafts in different permutations and combinations will be turned bythe engagement of lugs .27 and the arms 28.

On the top plate or' platform 3, see Figs. 1 and'3, is mounted anelectromagnet 29 with plunger armatures 30 joined bya yoke 31 which issecured to the end bar or plate of a rectangular frame 32, mounted toreciprocate in the axial plane of the magnet against the force of aspiralspring 33. The front bar or plate of this frame 32 carries sixparallel rods 34, the forward ends of which extend through guideopenings in astationary plate or .bar 35, and the other ends of whichare free to slide through the end plate of frame 32, but are surroundedby light spiral springs 36 interposed between said end plate and collars37 fixed to the rods 34 and acting to maintain said rods in, theirforward position. Any other construction which supports the rods onspring seats with reference to the frame 32 may be adopted.

By referring now to Fig. 4, it .will be seen that the arm 38 of the bellcrank lever, the

arm 19 of which is connected with the bar 14, lies normally in thepathof one of the rods 34, and arms 39, fixed to the rock shafts 26, lienormally in the pathsof the remainder of said rods, so that, assumingthe magnet 29 to be energized and the frame 32 to be shifted thereby,the rods 34 encountering the said arms 38 and 39 will be forced backwardagainst-the force of ,springs36,

through their seats in frame 32, their position with respect to theother parts ofjthe instrument not being materially altered.

Six levers 40, with double contact points 41, are pivoted to aninsulating base 42, between two sets of stationary contacts 43 and 44,and are normally held 'in engagement with the latter by spiral springs45.

The rods 34 extend through openings in the levers .40, and when theframe 32 ,is shifted by the action of magnet 29, the collars 37 on therods, if the latter be not intercepted by the arms 38 or 39, will engagethe said levers, forcing them outof contact with sto ps 44 and intocontact with .stops 43. Under normal conditions a small space intervenesbetween the collars 37 and levers 40, to permit a certain forwardmovement of rods 34 before this engagement is established.

The contacts 43 ,are fixed in an insulating plate 46, and form terminalsof independent circuits, while contacts 44 are supported by" aconducting plate or bar 47 for the purposes to be explained. 7

Each of the key levers 4 has a depending plate 48, see Figs. 3, 4 and 6,with a notch 49 in its edge and a beveled end 50. Immediately beneaththis series of notched plates 48 is abar 51 carried by arms 52 se curedto a rock shaft 53 mounted in the side plates of the instrument. Anelectromagnet or solenoid 54 mounted beneath the working parts of thedevice and which, as shown in Fig. 2, is provided with cores 55 carriedby a yoke 56 and operating against a spiral spring 57, operates, whenenergized, to rock the shaft 53 by means of a connecting rod 58pivotally joined to the yoke and to one of the arms 52 respectively.

The purpose and function of the mechanical and electromagnetic elementsthus described will be more fully understood by the following statementof operation, in connection with which reference will be made to thediagram of circuit connections, Fig. 8. In this diagram, the terminalsof the sending sunflower, to correspond with those of the sendingsunflower in my application Serial No. 743,512, are designated-by theletters A to L inclusive. This diagram illustrates, conventionally, theapparatus at the sending or. home station of the system and the circuitconnections employed when the several instruments are arranged forduplex ope 'ation. Thls being, for the moment,.assumed, let 1t befurther assumed that some one of the key levers be depressed to sendover the line the signal corresponding thereto. The first resultfollowing the depression of the key and its lever 4 will be to forcedown the bar 8, which, as has been explained, is common to all of thekey levers, thereby turning the rock shaft 9 and operating the circuitcontroller 13. This disconnects a local battery 59 from ground through acondenser and connects the condenser with the terminal J of the sendingsunflower 60 that includes in its circuit the magnet 61, the function ofwhich.

is to release the shaft of that instrument, permitting it to start inrotation. As the current impulse which effects this operation is thecondenser discharge, it is of very short duration, and the releasemagnet 61 being but momentarily energized, .restores the locking devicesso quickly that e sunflower shaft, after making a single evolution, willbe again locked against r ation. The depression of the key in quest'on,also depresses the bell crank lever 23 connected therewith, and drawsforward the corresponding slide bar 25. This'ba'r carries one or morelugs 27, which therefore will oper ate to rock one or more of the shafts26 and swing the corresponding arms 39 out of the paths of the rods 34,and thus that particular combination or permutation which corresponds tothe signal to be sent is estab lished. But in the meantime, by the rotation of the sunflower shaft, a cam 62 thereon has operated acircuit-controller 63 which completes a circuit from the battery 59through the contact magnet 29, which, being energized, shifts the frame32 carrying the rods 34. Of these latter, those only which find a clearpath resulting from the withdrawal of arms 39, will travel forward withthe frame, and in so doing shift the corresponding levers 40 out ofcontact with their stops 44 and into contact with the opposing insulatedstops 43. If-we assume,

for sake of illustration, that the contacts 66 of the sunflower 60, uponwhich the arm 67 of that instrument normally bears, and which is alsoconnected to each of the other segments of the sunflower through thesame side of the relay by the levers 40 and the stops 44., upon whichthe latter normally rest, is, by the operation referred to, connectedthrough the other side of said relay by the levers 40 and stops 43 ofthe circuit controllers a and b to segments 68 and 69 of the sunflower.I

Another operation immediately following, the release of the sunflowershaft, and hence the depression of a key lever, is effected by a cam 71on the sunflower shaft that operates a circuit closer 72, which connectsthe local battery 59 to ground through the lock magnet 54 in the keyboard instrument.

This shifts the arms 52 and brings the bar 51 into the notch 49 of thekey that has been depressed, and against the beveled ends 50 of theplates 48 of all of the other keys, thus preventing the depressed keysfrom rising and the raised keys from being depressed.

These conditions having been established,

persist as long as the circuit controllers 63 and 72 are maintained inoperation by their respective cams, or, in other words until. thesunflower has racti cally complete one revolution. The urther operationsduring that interval are effected by the sunflower and are as follows:The arm 67 passing from the first segment 66", breaks :-the groundconnection of battery 64 through the right hand side of the transmittingrelay. On reaching the next segment 73 the battery 64 is groundedthrough the, left side of the relay and an actuating impulse is sent toline by the relay, which, arriving at the other end of the line througha relay corresponding to the receiving relay 74 at the home station,finds a path through segmefnt75 of the corres ondmg receiving sunflower-80, upon WhlCh segment the arm, 76 of that instrument normally rests,and energizes during the interval of such contact, the release magnetcorresponding to that designated by the numeral 77 ofthe receivingsunflower at the sending station. The transmitting sunflower at thehome, and the receiving sunflower at the distant stations, are bythismeans set in operation, and each'will completea 'revoluticn in the sameinterval of time.

It having been assumed that connections are established. by the keyboard from battery 64 through the left side of the transmitting relay'65to segments 68-and 69, it follow that in its passage over these segmentsthe arm 67 will ground these connections successively and thus send twomarking impulses to line by the operation of the relay which willbe'received through the corresponding segments of the distant receivingsunflower. These currents will produce in the receiving translatorcontrolled by the latter the same effect as the original impulsesproduced in the home translator, those magnets 66 ofwhich', aspreviously stated, corresponding to segments 68 and 69 of thetransmitting sunflower being energized by the rotation of the arm 67over the same. In assing over the other segment of the sun ower ring,the arm 67 grounds the battery 64 through the right hand side 1 of therelay 65,'which results in the sending of reversed currents to line thathave no other function than that of clearing the line.

It may be remarked that circuit controlling cams 78 on the shafts of thesunflower instruments at both stations are employed release or actuat ngmagnets 0f the transla-- to operate, at the proper instants of time, the

tors which these instruments respectively 5 control.

- From the above description the operation of this apparatus for anydesired combination or permutation of impulses which go to make up agiven signal will be understood.

One of the keys, however, as I have stated, has no corresponding lever23 for operating the rock shafts 26, but merely turns the rock stepsembracing two character spaces. The

' path of the corresponding rod 34, so that the ments, as 7 9', of thesunflower.

shaft 16 by encountering, when depressed, a projection 18 on theswinging bar 1 A certain numberof the other levers, moreover, alsoeffect, when depressed, the same movement of the rock shaft 16, inaddition to the establishment of the combinations resulting from theselection and operation of the rock shafts 26, and it remains toexplain? the operation in such-cases.

In the receiver, which is not illustrated herein, but made the subjectof another application filed Dec. 9, 1912, Serial No. 735,682 asheretoforestated, the type wheel is turned by suitable mechanism throughone or more steps, each including two character spaces.

.There is also employed a device controlled bered row on the type wheel,this magnet is energized, eitheralone or in addition to those whichoperate to turn the type wheel through key for operating this shiftmagnet without imparting any other movement to the type wheel, may beany one of the key board which, as above stated has for that purpose nocorresponding ever 23, but merely acts to depress the bar 14. When,therefore, such key, Or any other key that turns the bar 14, isdepressed, the lever 19 is drawn down and its arm 38 shifted out of the.

. contacts a, Fig. 8, will beoperated either alone, or in conjunctionwith, any. or all of the others, as the case may be. A reference to thediagram shows that this contact stands in the same relation to thevarious .com-

ponents of the system as the other contacts, and that when selected andoperated it com pletes a connection from battery 64 to the left handsideof relay 65 to one of the seg- With the-selecting devices describedit is manifest that a large number of distinctive signals may betransmitted and utilized for the control of the various devices in thereceiver which perform the operations of printing, spacing, paper feed,etc. which are necessary in such cases, and that the keys may be equalin number to the permissiblepermutations and combinations of the maximumnumber of impulses allotted to any signal. It is possible, therefore, tohave a separate key for each character and for each op- -erationinvolved in the proper control of the receiver.

In the description of the diagram, Fig. 8,

reference to certain parts and partially illustrated connections hasbeen omitted, as to one skilled in the art these will be well un--derstood. For example, the segments of the receiving sunflower 80 areassumed to be connected with the terminals 81 of the receivingtranslator, although these connections are not fully shown.

What I claim is:

1. In a key board for telegraph systems which comprise a transmittingsunflower instrument, the combination with a bank of keys, of meanscontrolled by all of the keys for releasing the transmitting sunflower,key controlled circuit selectors and means controlled by the sunflowerfor con-.

necting the selected circuits to their corresponding sunflower segments,as set forth.

2. In a key board for telegraph systems which comprise a transmittingsunflower instrument, the combination with a bank of keys, of a battery,a condenser in circuit therewith, a release magnet circuit for thesunflower, and a circuit controller adapted to be operated by all of thekeys to discharge the condenser through-the release magnet circuit whenany key is depressed.

3. In a key board for sunflower transmitters, the combination, with abank of keys, of a key cont-rolled circuit common to all of the keys forreleasing the sunflower, key controlled circuit selectors and contactdevices controlled by the sunflower for connecting the selected circuitsto the corresponding sunflower segments.

4. In a key board for sunflower-transmitting instruments, thecombination with a bank of keys, of a source of current, circuits fromthe same to the segments of the sunflower, circuit controllers in saidcircuits, key controlled selecting devices for permit ting or preventingthe operation of the circuit controllers, and an'electromagnet,dependent for operation upon the movement of the sunflower, foractuating those circuit controllers which, by the adjustment of theselecting devices, are free to operate.

5. In a telegraph key board instrument, the combination with a bank ofkeys, of a series of circuits, circuit controllers therein, selectingdevices for permitting or preventing the operation of the circuitcontrollers and connected mechanically with the keys, and a selectingdevice adapted to be operated by the depression of certain of said keyssimultaneously with the operation of the selecting devices connectedtherewith.

6. The selecting mechanism for key board circuits herein described,comprising in combination, a bank ofkeys, a series of oscillatingcontact levers and contact stops'therefor, a reciprocating frame andspring seated rods carried thereby for engaging the contact levers andcorresponding in number and position therewith, stop levers normally inthe path of said rods, selective connections between said levers and thekeys, and means for reciprocating the frame, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses,

JOHN EDWARD WRIGHT. Witnesses:

M. LAWSON DYEB, WM. BOHLEBER.

